Nota Bene

Hola everyone!

As per (of late), I’m mixing up the geography – and climates – of my blogposts, just so things don’t get samey…

And that means: no Siberian winter-roads today; instead: picturesque Patagonian mountains – albeit featuring something very cold and icy (and massive). Confused? Of course you won’t be – the give-away’s in the title!

So far down in Argentina:

Mount Fitz Roy – approached;
Cerro Torre mountain – viewed;
Fitz Roy again – seen properly;

More walkies and more views of the both mountains – done.

So what was next for us? Next was when things went somewhat awry…

The plan went something like this: a hike to and then upon the Huemul Glacier (“Deer Glacier”) and a look at the lake (“laguna”) of the same name formed by the glacier. Such a lake is actually a common thing: a glacier drags along stones, clay, and all sorts of mountain debris that forms so-called moraines with lakes inside them. I might not have described them perfectly accurately; apologies if so: I’m no real glaciologist…

Read on…

People sometimes ask me: “Eugene, why are you so drawn to the North? What is it about deep-frozen Siberian cities likes Yakutsk, or just-as-cold Far-Eastern ones like Magadan, and the treacherous winter roads that connect them?

It’s like this. In the Arctic and near-Arctic it’s always winter – even when it’s summer. But the “real” winter – December to February – is just so much colder. Still, there are no gnats, mosquitoes, or other bloodsuckers, and that, to me, more than makes up for the cold. (And anyway – a Russian afraid of the cold? That would be like… a burger patty being afraid of buns.) Curiously, southern/central Yakutia (the Sakha Republic) is well away from (well south of) the Arctic, but in winter it can get much colder there. If you don’t believe me, look at the temperature data by region. For example, compare the climate of Tiksi (on the north coast of Russia – inside the Arctic Circle) with that of Yakutsk. Who knew?! So yes, the climate is a harsh one, and not to many folks’ taste. Not to mine in and of itself, but there’s something else – besides the lack of hungry insects – that makes up for the intense (-60°C and below!) cold in winter: central Yakutia – for example along the Kolyma highway – only gets prettier. It becomes a deep-frozen, absolutely white, winter-wonderland scene that’s simply unique. I’ve enthused and raptured about it plenty before (see my MYM (2021) and MYB (2022) expedition series of posts). Unfortunately (!), this year the winter was extremely warm, with average temperatures around just (!) -20/-30°C (which is very unusual for late winter), so the views, alas, weren’t so magical.

Nevertheless, extremely cold or no, when you head out early in the morning for another day’s drive, you’re immediately overcome by some kind of special northern hypnosis. And sunrises only intensify the feeling:

Read on…

From wintry Siberia back to summery Patagonia, and another installment from Los Glaciares National Park (Argentina)…

Already covered:

– First day (trekking toward Mount Fitz Roy)
– Second day (getting to Laguna de los Tres for the best views of Fitz Roy)

Coming up, day three: getting to and checking out mainly Cerro Torre, plus a glimpse of Fitz Roy again…

Cerro Torre is the second top-spot for tourist contemplation in Los Glaciares. The views are stunning: sheer granite pillars, or teeth, or – better – fangs:

Read on…

I don’t think I mentioned what route we’re taking this year on our road-trip, so here it is: Irkutsk > Yakutsk > Magadan (not necessarily the route shown on the map at that link; that’s just to give you an idea of the where and the how long?!!).

The expedition is going well, but I soon realized I’ve no energy in the evenings for full travel reports. After all, I’m behind the wheel for most of each long day. Accordingly, I won’t be writing often along the way – just occasionally when something “stop the presses” happens. Like it did, 700km east of Yakutsk, for example…

We were on the Old Kolyma Highway (Stariy Kolumskiy Highway), hoping to drive from Tomtor to where the mostly abandoned old road meets the “New” Kolyma Highway (the R-504), here:

Driving on old, mostly abandoned roads in the middle of nowhere is only for the… brave at the best of times; in the middle of winter in Siberia – only for the crazy; in the middle of an especially snowy winter in Siberia – only for… (what comes after crazy?!). But, the crazy crazies that we are, we still went for it!…

Read on…

Longtime inhabitants of this cozy corner of the internet will remember that if ever one of my posts begins with a photo of the Magadan restaurant in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO), it’s done for a reason, and also means that that and upcoming posts sure won’t be boring…

Read on…

On the first day of our trek around Los Glaciares National Park in Patagonia most of the potentially awesome views were unfortunately hidden by thick clouds. Come the second day, and we were headed toward the Laguna de los Tres mountain lake, which promised wonderful views of Fitz Roy – somewhere up there ->

Read on…

Hola amigos!

Welcome, everyone, to the Argentine Patagonian village of El Chaltén – a place fully deserving of your close attention due to the insanely mind-blowing concentration of landscapes all around it. This mountain village is also where all (or almost all) routes heading to the mountains, glaciers, and multicolored lakes begin – into Argentine Patagonia and the national Parque los Glaciares ->

Read on…

Hola Folks!

And so this here blog of mine has finally caught up with my late-2025 globetrotting escapades to bring me (almost) up to date – at least firmly into this year and its first touristic adventure. And that adventure, as you already know from the title of this blogpost, took place down in South America. But not Rio, and not Iguazu/Itaipu either – though there was a Brazilian installment…

The touristic adventure was an extended vacation – to fill in the lull early in the year, as per tradition. And “extended vacation” can mean only one thing for my blog: an extended series of posts thereon – coming right up! Today – also as per tradition: intro post, to get the juices flowing…

Read on…

A recent post was exclusively about the… exclusive hotel that, by virtue of its… exclusive location, has… exclusive rights to providing tourists with a full-fledged Iguazu Falls experience. This post is less exclusive – well, only just: it’s exclusively (dough!) about two other hotels in Brazil I stayed at recently…

Peak preview pics:

Read on …

As I mentioned last time, after our multiple waterfall-showers, it was time to take a helicopter ride to check out Itaipu and Iguazu from above…

We signed up for the flight, paid, showed up on time, spent about 40 minutes standing in line – and off we choppered!…

Read on…